


Bad Days

by boredomsMuse



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, I wanted to write a sad lance fic, M/M, Sad lance, kinda klance but not overly klancey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-24
Updated: 2016-10-24
Packaged: 2018-08-24 09:29:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8367109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boredomsMuse/pseuds/boredomsMuse
Summary: Hunk says Lance can't train today because he's sick.  Keith is sure he was perfectly fine yesterday but Hunk is sure Lance isn't faking it so the castle goes about it's daily business minus one Lance. Keith tries not to think about it.  Keith tries not to be worried.  He fails at both.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So like, in the picture of Lance's family, what if the little boy is Lance?  
> If so, why is that the picture he sees when he thinks of his family when it's clearly not a very recent one?  
> And the the hell is the Garrison training literal children to run a fighter pilot?
> 
> All these questions led to this.

The Paladins were incredibly predictable in their arrivals for training.  It wasn’t surprising that Lance and Hunk were the last two to arrive.  However, they hadn’t been this late since Allura had first tested them and the princess was getting incredibly impatient with the two. 

 

“Where are Hunk and Lance?”  She frowned as she looked over the three paladins in attendance. 

 

“I don’t think they’re feeling too well.”  Pidge answered her after a moment, the youngest seeming a bit hesitate and watching between the door and the annoyed royalty. 

 

“Not feeling well?  We have a war to win!”  Allura snapped at the green pilot.  “I had thought they understood the direness of the situation at hand by now.”  She added, causing the shorter of the two to frown.  Pidge opened her mouth to reply but stopped when the door opened and an out of breath Hunk rushed in.

 

“Sorry I’m late princess!”  He said as he ceased his running and tried to catch his breath.  “I was checking up on Lance, he’s really sick so he can’t train today.”  He explained.

 

“He seemed fine yesterday.”  Shiro frowned.  “Is it anything serious?  Should we put him in a pod?” 

 

“He’s probably just faking it so he can sleep in.”  Keith rolled his eyes, arms crossed. 

 

“No, he’s definitely not faking it but I don’t think it’s serious enough for a healing pod Shiro.”  Hunk answered.

 

“What is more important to him?!  Sleeping or saving the universe?  That’s it!  Someone go get him now!  We are not going to risk losing an attack by the galra simply because Lance has a cold!”  Allura shouted.

 

“Princess, I really don’t think that’s a good idea.”  Pidge frowned, eyes moving from Hunk to Allura.

 

“Yeah, he really is sick.”  Hunk added.  “But I’m sure he’ll feel a lot better tomorrow, he just needs rest.”  Allura frowned, looking between the two.

 

“Maybe we should listen to them, they do know more about Earthling health than we do.” Coran supported the two paladins and Allura sighed in defeat.

 

“Very well, we’ll allow him a singular day off.  However I expect Lance will be here early tomorrow ready to train twice as hard to make up for it.”  She decided.  Keith scoffed slightly at that and was surprised to find he was the only one to do so.  Normally he’d assume at least Pidge would join him in acknowledging the blue pilots lack of enthusiasm, for lack of a better term, when it came to training but the green pilot just nodded at the princess.  “The rest of you, let’s began.”

 

Training was the same as always, technically, and Keith tried not to think of the missing Paladin throughout it but he found himself noting moments when Lance would have make a joke, insulted his efforts, found himself biting back comments Lance wasn’t around to respond to.  He even noticed times Lance would normally have blocked attacks for him, or taken shoots that no one else would have. 

 

Pidge and Hunk seemed to be as distracted as he was, both quiet and more reserved than normal.  It was… disconcerting to say the least.  The whole day went by so slowly and seriously, not one of them able to break the tension and worry that blanketed their incomplete team.

 

Keith tried not to think about it.

 

He failed miserably, especially when he overheard Pidge and Hunk whispering to each other during a lunch filled with Coran’s speeches on their food and training.

 

“I’m not sure Lance is going to feel better tomorrow.”  Pidge mumbled, sparking a worried emotion Keith was trying his hardest to ignore.  “I mean, normally he has his siblings today, and normally he’s not this far from home.”

 

“Lance’ll be fine Pidge.”  Hunk assured, just as quiet.  “He’s a strong guy, and he’s not going to let any of us down.  He just needs some time to himself, you know?  So he doesn’t feel like he has to pretend he doesn’t feel terrible.”  Keith wasn’t sure what he meant.  Hunk sounded like he was trying his hardest to sound nonchalant but he sounded tense, worried, more subdued than Keith had ever known him to be.  He just sounded of… off was the best way the red pilot could describe it really.

 

“I hope you’re right.”  Pidge sighed.  “You should check on him after training.  I would but I’m getting my family back so it doesn’t feel like I should really say anything.”  He added.  Keith frowned.  What did Pidge’s family have to do with Lance being sick?  What did home and siblings have to Lance being sick?

 

“Yeah, okay.”  Hunk nodded.  “I’ll let you know what happens.”  Come to think of it…

 

His trail of thought and the whispered conversation were put to an end when Allura come in to inform them that lunch was over.  Keith groaned.  Sometimes being a legendary defender of the universe was worse than the garrison’s strict schedule.

 

 

Keith thought back to the lunch time conversation when training was complete.  Hunk almost immediately excused himself to check on Lance.  Shiro had offered to come but Hunk had quickly refused.  Keith wasn’t going to say he intended to follow the other pilot he just happened to walk the same way, far enough behind that Hunk wouldn’t notice.

 

Hunk stopped at the door to Lance’s room and knocked.

 

“Lance, buddy, it’s me.”  He announced.  “Can I come in?”  Lance’s reply was a short ‘okay’, barely audible from where Keith was in a corridor nearby.  The door slide open and Keith could make anything out in the dark room as Hunk entered. 

 

The door slide shut behind him.

 

Keith frowned.

 

Lance was never like that.  In all the time Keith had known him he was loud and mouthy with a ridiculous and occasionally annoyingly constant undertone of just… positivity or joy or something else that was so full of life and purely Lance.  He never sounded as empty as he did the singular word he used to greet his friend. 

 

“What are you doing?”  Keith jumped at Pidge’s voice, turning to find the shorter teen glaring at him. 

 

“Uh…”  He said, ingeniously, for at least a few seconds.  “Pidge, what’s really wrong with Lance?”  He asked after a few more seconds of silence between the two.  Pidge tensed up at the question and Keith knew he was about to be lied to when she opened her mouth.

 

“Nothing, he’s just sick.”  She claimed.  “Why, are you worried?”  She added, a clear attempt to change the topic that Keith wasn’t going to fall for.

 

“I was thinking.  Lance used to take one day off every year at the garrison.  Hunk sometimes did to.  The teachers never questioned it and Lance brushed off anyone who asked what he was doing with some lie everyone knew was bullshit.  So, what’s really wrong with him?”

 

“Lance’s just… got a lot to deal with, okay?  Can you just drop it?”  Pidge huffed, face pinched as she glared daggers into her teammate.

 

“We’ve all got a lot to deal with Pidge, I just want to know why Lance’s stuff is so important that he has to take a day off from defending the universe.”  Keith frowned, not really thinking that pissing off his only lead in uncovering what was actually wrong with Lance wasn’t really a good idea.

 

“It’s none of your business Keith.”  Pidge snapped.  “And even if it was, you don’t have a right to tell Lance what he is and isn’t allowed to be upset over so why do you need to know?”  The door to Lance’s room slide open and a disheartened Hunk stepped out.  He noticed the two fighting pilots and frowned.

 

“Uh, guys?”  He asked, looking between the two.

 

“It’s nothing.”  Pidge claimed.  “Come on, I want your opinion of a new tech upgrade for Green.”  She added, dragging Hunk away before Keith could interrogate him too.

 

Keith glared at Pidge as the other stalked away, steaming almost visibly coming out of her ears.  He turned to Lance’s door and walked over but hesitated.  He could knock and demand to be let in before question Lance but what then?  What good would that do?

 

Why did he care so much?

 

In the end Keith decided not to.  He went down to Red and checked his lion over, making sure he was in as perfect a condition as possible.  Keith knew his lion could tell his annoyance, his concern, his annoyance at his concern, and decided to mock his pilot about it.  The lion tried to come off sagely but Keith just rolled his eyes and huffed at his lion who was much too hot-headed and impulsive to be sagely, which probably said as much about Keith as it did Red.

 

Dinner was a tense affair and Lance didn’t join them for it.  It was quiet on the table, the only sounds being that of Shiro’s failing attempts to make conversation and Coran’s attempts at telling stories that were all shut down by equally intense glares form Pidge and Keith.

 

After dinner Keith tried to work his frustration out with his sword, not wanting to risk his lions insightful mockery again. 

 

When he eventually left the training room for the second time that day, maybe night he wasn’t sure, he headed to bed just as confused and concerned as he had been before training.

 

It was incredibly frustrating.

 

It didn’t help that he found Lance’s door open and his room empty when he walked passed.  Frowning, Keith wondered where he’d gone to. 

 

Like Pidge had said, it was none of his business and really what was going to say?

 

All the same Keith decided to search the halls for his missing teammate.  It wasn’t that hard, almost as though a force was pushing him in the right direction, in retrospect a force that was remarkably similar to the sounds of his lion only softer.  The door slide open and Keith found himself staring at the map of stars that were familiar.  Lance was sitting on the ground knees against his chest and a blanket around his shoulders.  He looked… small almost, caved in.

 

“Hunk, I’ll be fine, okay?  Just go back to bed.”  Lance mumbled, voice quiet and empty and nothing like what Lance should sound like.  Keith hesitated.  This was the only chance he was going to get to back out of the room and not get involved. 

 

He realized he really didn’t want to leave Lance like this, sitting all alone in a dark room full of stars that are so far away it would take lifetimes to return home.  He was worried about Lance, as much as neither liked to admit it he felt as though they’d become friends.

 

“I’m, uh, not Hunk.”  He started as poetically as was probably possibly for the admittedly socially awkward drop out.  He walked over, watching as Lance tensed up.  “Want to tell me what’s wrong?”  That’s what Shiro said, sometimes, when Keith was too angry to care who was friend or foe.

 

“Go away Keith.”  Lance mumbled.  Keith sat down next to him, somewhat tense himself.  “What are you doing?  That’s not going away.”  The blue pilot glared at him but Keith just shrugged, staying seated a little bit away from Lance and trying to look as causal as possible, despite his own nerves. 

 

“Sitting here until you tell me what’s wrong.”  Keith really doubted he was sounding as firm and sure of himself as Shiro did when he calmed the red pilot down.

 

“Then you’ll be sitting there all night.”  Lance claimed.  Keith just shrugged again.  They sat in silence and after a while Keith thought maybe for Lance wasn’t the best person to be trying to wait out.  The blue pilot was the most stubborn person Keith had met.

 

“Is it someone’s birthday?”  He asked, which didn’t really explain why Lance skipped this day at school every year but it made sense to the red pilot why Lance would want to talk a day off of Voltron to miss a celebrating family member.  It was probably the worst thing he could have said, considering Lance almost incredibly curled in on himself further, tears he didn’t want to let slip threatening to spill from his eyes.  “Uh.”  Keith said awkwardly, really, really not sure what to do now.

 

“Keith.  What do you know about my family?”  Lance mumbled after a long, tense silence.

 

“Not much?”  Keith frowned.  “I know it’s a huge family and I know they all live by the beach or something, right?”  Lance went silent again and Keith’s frown deepened.  “Lance?”

 

“It’s really easy to pretend it’s still like that.”  Lance mumbled.  “That they’re still living on the beach, that I’ll go home and they’ll be right there to greet me and tell me I did great and that they missed me.  That Ma will give me the biggest hug and Pa will pat me on the back and tell me he’s proud of me.”  Keith decided not to mention the sob that racked through his teammates form at the words.  He decided not to press Lance any further to speak either.  “But they’re not Keith.  My family’s not waiting for me, I won’t be able to go to that pizza place overlooking the wave, play in the swallows or eat ice-cream in the sand.”  He claimed.  Keith didn’t know what he meant.

 

“We’ll get through this Lance, we’ll beat the Galra and you’ll get to go home to your family.”  He offered, hoping it was the right thing to say.  It wasn’t.

 

“No Keith!  It’s not about that.”  He shouted, looking up and glaring so hard at Keith that the red pilot almost flinched.  “My families dead Keith!  D-E-A-D dead!”  They were silent again, Keith getting over the shock of that knew knowledge as he stared at Lance’s failed attempt to hold back tears, his eyes red and puffy like he’d been crying all day anyway.

 

“What?”  Keith eventually managed to mumble.  Lance let out another sob, curling back up in on himself again.  “Lance you never…”  How was he meant to continue that sentence?  They weren’t even friends before all this and really, when are you meant to bring up your dead family to a team of people meant to save the universe?

 

“I know.”  Lance whimpered.  “I know I never said anything I trust… I guess if I don’t say it it’s not real.”  He muttered. “Like they might one day actually be back.”

 

“What happened?”  Keith asked, tone cautious, after a moment.

 

“Do you remember the attacks that happened seven years ago?  Along the coast lines, pretty much the first large scale one.”  Lance asked and Keith frowned.  Of course he did, who couldn’t?

 

Earth wasn’t exactly the most peaceful place these days.  There was a reason the garrison existed, training _teenagers_ to be fight pilots, a reason why Keith was safest in the middle of nowhere.  War hadn’t officially started, even now, but it was certainly a time of unrest.  The attacks were few and far between and the governments of the people responsible claimed those that did each attack were extremists attacking alone but anyone with half a brain could tell they were military style attacks, well-funded and well-prepared.  No one knew when the other shoe was going to drop, when they’d officially go to war, but everyone knew it was a long time coming.

 

The attack on the shore had been the first true sign.  A whole town turned to ruin through gunfire and explosions.  Few survived.  Keith didn’t need to hear anymore to know where this was going but he wished he was wrong.

 

“Of course, they were all other the news.”  Keith answered. 

 

“It happened to my home town.”  Lance confirmed what Keith had been desperately, foolishly, hoping he wasn’t going to confirm.  “I wasn’t the only one that got away. My little sister and me, our older brother got us out of there as soon as he could but… there was no hope for anyone else.  Pa was too close to one of the explosions and Ma was shot trying to protect us.  We lost almost everyone else in the confusion.  My tia helped us get out of the chaos and told my brother to get us out of there while she went to get the others.  She didn’t come back.  No one did.”  Lance took a moment to pause, to try to calm down a little.  Keith waited in silence, not sure how to react.

 

“All the kids that got out without parents were put in this orphanage.  A few had their parents show up a few days after everything had calmed down.  No one came for us.  I met Hunk there.  When my brother turned 18 he found us a place and Hunk started living with us too because I guess Hunk had grown to be family by that point.  I… he didn’t want me to join the garrison but I just… I felt like I had to, you know?  Like if joining the garrison would help make sure no one else lost their families so I had to become a fighter pilot.  Hunk joined with me, heh, said he had to keep us out of trouble.  Sometimes I still felt like they were going to call me, yell at me for not coming home passed curfew or something.  It was so easy to forget about it all.  Except not today, not when it happened today.”  He sniffled.  “And now I’m in the middle of space, miles away from home, and my brother and sister have no idea where I am.  I always, _always_ call them today.  I guess for confirmation, you know, that they’re not gone too.”  Lance went silent again, a few minutes passed before Keith realized he wasn’t going to continue.  The red pilot hesitated before moving closer, wrapping an arm around Keith and pulling the other against him.  Shiro sometimes did that for him and it felt better.  He hoped it helped Lance too. 

 

“I’m sorry Lance.”  He said softly.  He couldn’t begin to know how that felt, to have lost such a large family, when he’d never even had a small one.  “We’re going to go home, alright?  Back to Earth, and you can call your siblings and tell them you saved the universe and I’m sure they’ll be proud of you.”  He wasn’t sure what he was saying he was hoping that this time it was the right thing though.  Third times lucky and all that.  “And if you want, the group of us can go out for pizza, and to the beach.  I know we’re not… that you know… we’d never be able to replace your family, and we wouldn’t want to, but Lance… Voltron’s like a family, isn’t it?  I mean, uh, this has kind of gotten away from me.”  Keith took a deep breath and heard a faint chuckle from where Lance was pressed against him and it made his stomach flutter.  “What I mean is, we care about you.  We’re like a second family, and even if we can’t take the place of the one you lost we can be there for you.  I’m sure Hunk can give you hugs, the guys a walking teddy bear, and Shiro’s no doubt going to be the one to pat us all on the back and say we did well.” 

 

“Did you just imply that Hunk and Shiro are like Voltron’s Ma and Pa?  Really?  That’d be so weird.”  Lance chuckled lightly and more relief flattered right were the worry had been. 

 

“Well, uh, kinda?  I think Allura’s probably more the mum… uh, I guess Hunk’s more like an older brother?  Or cousin maybe?  And Coran’s like the crazy uncle, Pidge would be the annoying younger sister…”  Keith really had no idea what he was saying but it was making Lance laugh and really that’s all that mattered to the red pilot right now.

 

“What would you and I be?”  Lance asked.

 

“You’d be the annoying toddler that thinks he’s the best.”  Keith decided after a moment.

 

“Hey!”  Lance exclaimed, even though he was still smiling, still laughing.  He calmed down a bit and they sat in the most comfortable silence they’d had since Keith had entered the room, which wasn’t really saying much.  “I don’t want to be related to you.”  Lance broke the silence.

 

“What?  I thought we were having a bonding moment, one you’d actually remember.”  Keith frowned at that and Lance chuckled lightly again.

 

“That’s uh, that’s not what I meant Keith.”  He said before moving to get up.  “I guess we should head to bed.  Allura’s apparently going to be extra hard on me tomorrow, kinda like I am whenever I see her.” 

 

“Gross Lance.”  Keith frowned, making a face, but taking Lance’s hand when the other offered it.  When he made it to his feet Lance was grinning at him still, the grin that meant he’d made a terrible joke and even if Keith didn’t enjoy it he did.  They walked back to the rooms together and things felt so much better and Keith was truly thrilled.  They stopped at Lance’s still opened door and Lance hesitated.

 

“Thanks Keith.”  He said after a moment.  “Seriously, I feel a lot better.”  In one second he’d pressed a kiss to Keith’s cheek and dashed inside his room, shutting the door.  Keith’s face felt as red as his jacket, a hand coming up to hold his cheek.

 

Somewhere in the depths of the castle Keith felt read teasing him about it as the pilot headed to bed.


End file.
